For the uninitiated, it can be difficult to understand why people love a cappella. Heck, even for those of us who do actively enjoy it, it can be difficult to put into words why we enjoy this art form so. While we’ll never have a truly comprehensive list of everything cool about a cappella, 200 Reasons to Love A Cappella is our best attempt at assembling a list of what makes it great.

Reason #69: Collaborating with Other Groups

Every group has its own unique sound, performance style, and overall flavor that fans appreciate and have come to expect from them. What can be especially cool, though, is to shake things up by combining one group’s style another’s.

Think of it like the NBA all-star game, when we get to Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dirk Nowitzki’s respective powers combine for a limited engagement that synergizes their abilities. Such is the case when a cappella groups collaborate, complementing one another and enhancing each other’s sound.

The most common configuration is for an all-male and an all-female group to come together in this context. The results? A remarkable ability to suddenly hit all of the notes. The synergy of the women’s musical precision with the men’s raw power. The mix of the men’s showmanship with the women’s dignity. I’m stereotyping a bit here, but the fact remains, bringing these groups for just a song or two—long enough to be novel, but not long enough to have necessarily meant unwieldy long-term collaborative preparation—results in a unique performance that will engage both groups’ fans.

Mike Chin

Mike Chin co-founded The A Cappella Blog in 2007. He continues to share leadership responsibility for the site, overseeing columns, reviews and features as the content manager. He currently lives in Georgia.